Imperial Labour Organization

Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala, INDIA

International Labour Organization (ILO) was created by the United Nations to work for the improvement of the conditions of the people do not appear to be improving much. Presently 20 percent people residing in the North are consuming 80 percent resources of the world. This 20/80 distribution is a key factor leading to poor incomes of the people in the South.

The 20/80 misdistribution is a product of the industrial revolution, which made it possible to mine coal lying deep in the earth with the help of the steam engine. Previously man relied on fuel wood or wood charcoal for fuel. The availability of biomass was greater in the South hence there was greater concentration of population in these areas. The North may have had 20 percent people consuming about 20 percent of the world's resources. The steam engine made a huge addition to the resources available in the North. This was further strengthened by the colonial loot of the resources of the South. In this way 20 percent people living in the North began to control and consume 80 percent of the world's resources.
Such imbalances have taken place in the history previously as well. For example, most of the people of the Indian subcontinent lived in the Indus basin before 10th Century BC. Most of the known resources were also located in that area. Eighty- percent people of the Indus basin may have consumed about 80 percent of the known resources. Conversely, it was 20/20 for the Ganges basin. The invention of iron tools made it possible to clear the dense jungles of the Ganges basin with the result that the resources at the command of the erstwhile forest-dwellers of this area multiplied manyfold and these 20 percent people now commanded 80 percent of the known resources. A 20/80 misdistribution like that prevailing presently was created. But this misdistribution was soon rectified. Migration of people took place from the Indus to the Ganges basin. The higher resource endowment of the Ganges basin was neutralized by immigration and equality was reestablished once again. The steam engine and other technologies have led to a similar misdistribution today.

There are two ways of approaching this problem. One is to ignore the 20/80 misdistribution and focus on providing the basic needs of the workers of the South within this continued deprivation. The alternative approach is to remove the 20/80 misdistribution and establish global equality.

Historical examples tell us that misdistribution has been rectified by migration of people. It would follow that a straightforward solution to the present impasse is to allow migration of people from the South into the North. But the North has prevented such migration. It is like the forest dwellers of the Ganges basin preventing immigration of the people from the Indus valley. Furthermore, this misdistribution is persisting because of the technology rents extracted from the South under provisions of TRIPS, profit repatriations and royalty payments by made by Northern MNCs working in the South, the South exporting greater quantities of its resources at declining prices.

It was expected that ILO would raise this issue in order to secure the welfare of the people of the South, in particular. But ILO fails the test. The report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization constituted by it acknowledges the importance of cross-border movement of labour for securing their welfare. It is said, "From the perspective of developing countries the absence of a multilateral framework for the cross-border movement of people reflects yet another gap in the rules governing the global economy. Many of them maintain that freer migration to the industrialized world would be a swift and powerful means of increasing the benefits they receive from globalization. From a labour perspective, the lack of a multilateral framework on migration is a clear illustration of the imbalance in the current rules of the game. While the rights of foreign investment have been increasingly strengthened in the rules set for the global economy, those of migrant workers have received far less attention."

But instead of taking the issue to its logical conclusion and asking for free movement of labour, the Commission backtracks and gives an apology: "We have already referred to the significant potential benefits, both for the migrants themselves, and for the countries of origin and destination. But this needs to be tempered by the recognition of the potential costs such as the displacement of local workers, the disruption of labour market institutions and social protection systems, and the weakening of social cohesion."

This is like the people of the Ganges basin saying that they would not allow immigration from the Indus valley because it may lead to displacement of their forest habitats and disruption of their forest-based lifestyles.
This exposes the true Imperialist character of the United Nations' agencies like the ILO. The objective of ILO is not to remove the 20/80 misdistribution at its very roots. Rather, the objective is to perpetuate this misdistribution under the garb of social cohesion etc. The ILO has reduced itself to only providing nominal relief to the poor to as to alleviate extreme poverty. The ILO should be renamed Imperial Labour Organization.

Author's address: bharatj@nda.vsnl.net.in

Ecofeminism

Suresh Bhattarai

Last week, women around the globe join hands for 94th edition of the international women's day. The yearly gathering yet again failed to raise any excitements among Nepalese women. With country plunged into serious domestic violence, women from different walks of life seize the to vehement their anger towards "gender-blindness" rather than counting their achievements.

"Although women represent half of the world's population and one-third of the official labor force, they receive one percent of the world income and own less than one percent of the world's property"(UN conference, Copenhagen 1980).

Two and half decade passed since the UN conference dug out to reveal a repentant picture of women in our world, nothing has changed much. We are cruising in new millennium with new hopes and challenges, still the women especially in the third world, yet to be appreciated for their graceful services. Their effortless services are either easily undermined or taken for granted both in rural areas and in urban centers.

Women and Environment

Merchant (1980) and later Breton (1998) pragmatically linked women temporally and spatially to their surroundings. The link between women and the environment stems from experiencing the effects of domination is it of nature or of themselves. Women are synonymous to nature, emptying and getting exploited to nurture its dependents.

Women play a predominant role in environmental actions. Vandana Shiva (1992) said "Women are able to maintain contact with that world even after the society, the economy, science, and technology have tried to make us think that the only economy that matters is the one in which we earn money and the only science and technology that matters is the one we have built".

The social structure, in the third world, has restricted women activity to tender children, look after cattle, collect fuel wood, fetch water and cook food, to name few. They are so much indulged and absorbed by those daily activities that they hardly have any time that they can say "their own". A closer scrutiny on their task would reveal that their daily activities depend highly on the nature and natural resources.

The connections: Women and environmental destruction.

With such close association with the nature, one need not to be an expert to deliver a verdict that environmental degradation hits women not only hard but also disproportionately. The rapid degradation of land makes their daily tasks more difficult and even impossible. Dankelman & Davidson (1988) have pointed out as women's contribution to their own well-being becomes more problematic, their magnetization increases. Fast diminishing fertile land is pushing women to more distant, fragile and less fertile land to lead a life of landless and unpaid "laborers".

As "gender-blindness" prevails in our culture, women are not permitted to intervene in decision-making. "Man of houses" assembles to decide where to build new house, and why should they be concerned with the distance to the water sources; after all, water collection is neither their job nor the important one.

Women in Global and Nepalese context

Dankelman & Davidson (1988) have unearthed a touching story from India. During the popular Chipko movement, an unprecedented mission by environmental hermit Sundar lal Bahuguna to protect tree by embracing it against encroacher, men and women differed bitterly when they were asked to choose plants for reforestation. The men preferred cash crop i.e. fruit tree as they would take the fruits and sell by the roadside, make quick money for tobacco and liquor. While the women preferred fuel and fodder trees. Goodland (1995) reported that South African women spend seven to nine hours per week on these chores, walking 12 to 38 miles carrying heavy loads on their heads. If African women are living a dismal life then Nepalese women are not in better shape either. Excluding few urban centers, average Nepali woman are compelled to work whole day carrying water, fodder etc. to meet their daily needs. So many unrewarding assignments rob their time for childcare, education, paid work, or other activities.

In Nepal, some of household activities i.e. wedding and harvesting, home gardening, livestock and poultry rearing, and fuel and water collection, which are almost exclusively performed by women, are not considered economic activities and hence excluded from surveys. About 40 % of women and 59.9 % of men over the age of 10 are considered economically actives (CBS 1996). Agriculture and allied industries engage 81.2 % of those "economically active" populations. The women proportion was found substantially higher (90.5%) then their male (74.9%) counterparts.

Our huge success in community forestry should be credited for outstanding services of rural women. During my own study at Gerkhu, a village in Nuwakot, I found women more active then male, when it comes to conservation. They are enlightened by the fact that it's their action or inaction towards the resource conservation, going to determine their daily
life. Though their objective of planting trees is to cut short their daily journey water or fodder but ultimately resources is being conserved by "invisible" resource managers.

The 5th June 2003 was probably the brightest day in Nepalese women history, as Nepalese women effort towards environment protection received an international acclamation. Women Environment Preservation Committee (WEPCO) was decorated by United National Environment Program (UNEP) with "Global 500, Roll of Honor" for their outstanding initiative towards community based "solid waste" program.

Conclusion

Still today women are treated as second class citizen; they are neither entitled to any external exposure nor, or inadequate if any, legal protection. Under such situation, women empowerment is a far cry; it is questionable if their concerns are even heard. But things should be changed and should be changed towards a better tomorrow. Women, either from rural or urban areas; first or third world are more attached in the nature then men. So women are not only household manager but also, formally or informally "invisible" resource managers. They have the knowledge and the skill of natural resource management that can be built upon. Success story like WEPCO suggests that women have a remarkable ability to work together; they can share their skills and resources to take effective action. Women from the first world or from urban centers can set a good example of environmental manager of household "domestic waste". Where as, third world or rural women, who are so much dependent on natural resource to fulfill daily needs, are nature stewards who can turn the short-term convenience of remedial action into sustainable environmental development.

(Author can be reached at: sbhattarai@ku.edu.np  ).

IT education : A walk on a tight rope view

Anup Banskota, Assistant Professor, KU

These days, one can clearly see a lot of advertisements for the enrollment in various kinds of academic degrees. It’s always good to have variety in subjects and streams, so that student can pursue higher studies complying with their choice and that too within the country. The establishment of Regional Universities has boosted up the rampant growth of categories in the technical degrees. But then moot question is about the credibility and the legitimacy of those academic degrees with catchy nomenclatures. The normal tendency of Nepalese student is somewhat like "jumping on the bandwagon" without any kind of academic consultations which is further worsened by "Jack-of-all-trade" guardians and colleagues. One must analyze about the consequences and viability as well as continuity of any such degree he/she is looking forward to.

 Regarding the Information technology, this tendency seems even much more proliferating. A variety of degrees are running under the affiliation of numerous Universities, but, with exception, very few of these degrees seem to be reflecting truly academic trait. It’s noteworthy that some of these degrees are truly professional kind of and cannot be continued further or unrecognizable to the outside world.

 One of the important aspects that may lead to grim scenario is the involvement of charlatans in the IT-education sector. The lack of monitoring body is helping a lot in fueling such misdeeds. Since the confetti colleges don’t have to struggle much for getting those people, the outcome of such malpractices definitely dooms the academic sector. The number of such colleges in itself is ramping up with breakneck pace and the numbers of scholars in each college seems too be far more than the facility available. So far medical education is the only sector which is assessed from stem to stern for such misdeeds.

 The whole idea is the establishment of proper statutory body, with a view to a proper planning and co-coordinated development of technical education system throughout the country and the promotion of qualitative improvement of such education in relation to planned quantitative growth and the regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in such technical education system and for matters connected therewith.

 Recently, government has established a high-level commission to assess the quality of technical education. It is definitely a laudable step towards quality education. Such steps are becoming quite necessary to strengthen the uniformity in terms of quality and type of education as well as to enforce the quality of faculty members. We shouldn’t continue to let those charlatans to make a mockery of education standards. All we need is a strong phalanx with repertoire of strategic know-how and technical wherewithal backed by non-lackadaisical government interest which assesses these malpractices in the regular fashion. Unfortunately, the responsible bodies are not functioning at par to their responsibility. There hasn’t been any visible changes realized so far.

 The credibility of any particular degree is of paramount importance and we are seriously oblivious towards it. If this menacing status quo is allowed to be continued, then we must reconcile to loosing the faith in our own degree

(Author can be reached at: anup_bkt@hotmail.com).

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